Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

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Alberich
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Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Alberich »

[OOC: There is nothing to stop Therese and Desiree from continuing their earlier conversation in the other thread, or in this one for that matter, if they so wish. This post takes place a little before midnight.]

The three stealthy adventurers continued to make their way south, avoiding the angry armed patrols that thundered up and down the road. Their only real worries had been the dogs - and Tamina's kobold huntress magic had taken care of that.

The kobold's night vision placed her on point, and it wasn't hard for her to detect the other travellers' campsite -- the wavery sight of the smoke against the starlight, the smell of the fire and the cooking, and the horses -- for such as she, there was no mystery to these. In the hilly terrain, she found it easy to climb to a vantage where she could see who these people were. And recognize one or two from Port Lorrel.

There was no sign or scent of the "bad elfy man" who'd been using Ralkin magic -- but one or two of the others, who'd been on the same side against the slavers, these Tamina remembered. Whether to approach them alone or report back to Jamie and Udo first - this was up to her.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"Rose? Rose! ROSE!! ROOOOOOOOOSSSSEEEE!"

Tamina slid down the slope, sending up a shower of dust and the racket of stones clattering across the edge of the camp. The kobold emerged from the cloud grinning and flapping a hand in greeting at the peoples who'd helped her find the bad men in Port Lorrel. She breathed an internal sigh of relief that the blonde one wasn't with them.

"Rose! Thought that was you!" She exclaimed. "You here looking for the bad men too? Oh!" She looked around wildly. "Beaver gah* here? Thought he was Killikah*!"

*- cub/sisterhood

OOC Couldn't resist. :)/OOC
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Graybeard
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Re: Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Graybeard »

Sister Rose had never been able to fly before.

Somehow, by Argus' magic, she was doing it now, and the two of them, hand in hand, were hurtling across the landscape in search of Blaise. Truth be told, he wasn't that hard to track; she could clearly see, out in the distance, the airship bearing him toward the mountain fortress, its engines producing an exhaust of rubies that fell to the ground in its wake. And there was the problem: where the rubies fell on the ground, fearsome warriors from the brutish clans of Goriel sprung up, as in the old myth of sowing dragon's teeth, whirling and dancing and waving huge, flaming swords until Eli cut them down with mighty bolts of magic. Where had Eli come from? Rose had no idea, he hadn't been there a few minutes earlier. But he was now, and his attention had been diverted from the bloody Yurkashevs and Duravskys and Luminosita alone knew who the other ermine-clad fighters were, to where Tim and Desiree were reclining in a wagon and -- and --

"Rose? Rose! ROSE!! ROOOOOOOOOSSSSEEEE!"

The dream vanished, and Rose returned groggily to consciousness to find Tamina dancing from foot to foot, her face excited and eager. "Y-yes? What is it?"

--------------

Therese had seen her coming. However, it was near the end of the first watch, and she was drooping with fatigue. Brad, poor soul, was struggling manfully to stay awake. Desiree's eyes were glazing over. It would be left to the warrior woman to intercept this impossibly fast-moving intruder.

She didn't seem hostile, though. Therese's own near-dreaming state couldn't shake the mental image of a huge puppy dog chasing a stick. By the time she was able to intercept this remarkable apparition (a failing for which she would roundly chastise herself later), Tamina had made it to the campfire ... and roused Rose.

"Who, or what, is this?" she finally got out, as Rose struggled to her feet.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"Y-yes? What is it?"

"Hi!" Tamina replied. "Seen you from the ledge up there, wondered what you were doing here." She explained. "We've been looking for the bad man at the mine, you hear to do the same?"

"Who, or what, is this?"

"Oh! Hi!" Tamina noticed the arrival of the big, red-haired wo/man (OOC Therese still looking ambiguous?/OOC) and gave her a friendly, pointy-toothed smile that sent mixed-messages despite her best efforts.

"Know Rosy!" She explained. "Met in the port! Got rid of some of the bad peoples together!" She patted a hand on her chest. "M' Tamina, kobold, killikah gah, here with m' friends. Oh! Jaime! Udo!" At the last words the kobold's voice rose to a shout loud enough to carry to her comrades who were hanging back. "Nice people here! Come and say hello!"
Alberich
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Re: Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Alberich »

Udo and Jamie had looked at each other, puzzled, as Tamina had gone bouncing down happily. They'd unslung their weapons and made ready -- Udo to give a spotlight, and Jamie covering fire. But it seemed there was no attack - and now the only danger was that Tamina would bring in every Gibazov for miles around. Udo came pelting down as fast as he could, tripping and tumbling only twice in the darkness. Once he reached the camp, he was trying to say, "shhhh!" - but he was kind of out of breath - so it was more of a "puff - shhh - puff - shhh" that wouldn't make sense 'til this world had a steam revolution.

Jamie tripped up beind him, nonchalant, ready to make friends or pick 'em off with headshots, whichever. "What's cookin'?"

A bleary-eyed Tim peeked out from his own tent. He'd been sleeping so soundly that the group could've linked arms and sung a rousing chorus of, "Luminosita is a big gassy fake and Patriarch Jeramel sucks donkey balls," and he wouldn't've heard a thing. But Tamina's piercing enthusiasm chased sleep away, long before the ravelled sleeve of care was even half knitted up. Normally he could remember where he was and what he was doing there the moment he was up. But something about this scene made him think he was forgetting a lot, or had slept way longer than he felt he had.
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Drannin
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Re: Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Drannin »

Argus looked at Tamina with amusement. "Things just keep getting interesting, don't they?"

"Sure do," Harker commented.

Argus sighed. He looked over at his familiar. "Where the hell were you, what were you doing there, and how did you get here so quickly?"

"In Goriel, fulfilling business obligations, I jogged," Harker replied matter-of-factly. "So, I'm back, and there's now a catgirl present. Things are looking up."

"She's a kobold, Harker."

"You know what I mean."
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Drusia
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Re: Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Drusia »

So much for flirting. Someone is approaching the camp and -

...?

"Cat girl?" I say, tilting my head in confusion.

She seems excited and wants to talk to Rose. Rose knows a cat girl?

And then a whole bunch of others show up too. They seem friendly enough. Theresa is bristling, Rose looks bleary, and Argus looks... amused?

I walk up to the nearest of the strangers, another individual of ambiguous gender (I'd wonder if he or she was with Theresa, except that Theresa seems surprised and on her guard), and offer him or her my hand.

"Desiree," I say, by way of introduction. "And you are?" I nod my head at him or her and the others to indicate I'm asking about the group at large, not just the ambiguous individual.

-- Desiree

OOC: ... I said long ago that Desiree might well find Jamie interesting. If nothing else, I imagine they'll have a lot to talk about.
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Re: Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Alberich »

Udo recognized that one, anyway - it was the hot naked elf chick sex slave from back in Port Lorrel - only she wasn't naked now. Too bad! Maybe later? Well, of course she didn't know Jamie - Jamie'd been away for a little while just then.

"Desiree. And you are?"

"Jamie's the name, blowing heads off's the game. That's Tamina. Harm a hair on her fur, you die. And that's before I get to you. Oh, and that's Gluto."
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Drusia
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Re: Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Drusia »

Meanwhile, elsewhere....

Drusia:

The compound is quiet. I wait in a hallway, in a shadow, outside the room where she was assigned. It's late, and the halls are quiet. It's tense after everything that's happened.

Finally, Anfisa emerges from the room. Her hair is unkempt, and her clothing hastily rearranged, but she seems otherwise as she was when I met her earlier. She looks nervous. I'm worried that she'll cry out if I surprise her. Only one thing for it then.

I let her walk past me, then step out and put my hand over her mouth. "It's Drusillia," I whisper. "Don't say anything. Just nod if you're ready for me to take you to Desiree."

She's shivering in fear, but she nods. "Relax," I whisper to her, drawing her closer.

I considered where the best place to do this would be. I could have waited until she returned to the zenana, but then the guards could attest that she never left. By doing this in the empty hallway, with no one to see us, it will always be a mystery what happened to her. If I took her from the zenana, then it might tip off Arman that I was involved - who else could steal a getera from a zenana without being seen? Here, it could be almost anyone. It might even be the spark that lights up whatever the current political tensions are. Whatever, not my problem. My only concern is that I don't bring Arman's wrath down upon my family.

"Over here," I say, leading her to a room. It's little more than a linen closet, but I don't need much room - just quiet. Once the door is closed, I release her mouth and let her turn to face me.

"Stay quiet," I warn. "I'll have us out of here in a moment. Now, hold my hands."

Looking a bit baffled, and still very scared, she does so. I take a deep, cleansing breath and concentrate. This isn't going to be a combat gating - I need something that will take us farther, and that will take two. I use the same process I used to bring Sar with me on our way here. Breathe. Mark this place in my mind. Mark the distance. Unlike last time - or next time - I do have a specific, marked destination that I prepared ahead of time. That will make this easier, but it still takes me a moment. I could never gate this far in the heat of combat, it takes me far too long to ready myself. But for pure transportation, this technique is very effective.

I open the way and reality bends. Anfisa gasps, but it's all right, because we're now standing outside the city.

"That was the easy one," I tell her. "The next two will be harder." I squeeze her hands and take another deep breath. And another. I keep my eyes open this time, looking up the mountain side, using my eyes to pick the destination. I know basically where Rose is heading, and I know the roads around here. Two jumps should do it. I take another breath. Focus. This one doesn't have a prepared destination, just what I can see. This one is going to hurt.

Reality bends again. Unlike the last one, this one doesn't want to stay still. I have to focus on holding it steady, on getting us there - just there. There. There!

We're on the mountain side. Everything goes sparkly and I fall to my knees. Anfisa lets go of my hands, looking around in shock.

"... what are you?" she asks me.

I smile weakly. "Exhausted," I reply. She frowns - obvioulsy not what she meant - but doesn't press. I sit down on a nearby rock and dig some dried fruit from my pack. I offer her a piece and tear into the rest. The water I share more evenly.

"I'll have you with Desiree soon," I tell her between bites.

She looks at me, really looks. After a long moment, she says "You're a good sister. You really care for her."

I smile. "Yeah, I do. But... well, now may not be the time, but... I'm not her sister. I'm her mother. My people age slowly."

-- Drusia

OOC: I stopped there in case you wanted to take over Anfisa's reactions, Alberich.
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Drusia
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Re: Goriel and Beyond, Part 5

Post by Drusia »

"Jamie's the name, blowing heads off's the game. That's Tamina. Harm a hair on her fur, you die. And that's before I get to you. Oh, and that's Gluto."

I blink.

"Why would I want to harm her?" I ask, baffled. "She's a friend of Rose's." I mean, she seems to know her, she called her by name after all.

"Anyway, I don't think you'll need to resort to anything... like that. We're all friendly here. Um." The cat girl, Tamina, said something about a bad man in a mine. "Are you guys after Blaize too? We should team up. I mean, assuming that we're all after the same bad man in the same mine... Tamina seems to think so." I smile hopefully.

-- Desiree

OOC: Desiree was pretty traumatized during the whole kidnapping thing - I don't think she remembers Jamie and the others, except very vaguly. The whole Eli murdering people had her pretty distracted.
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